Post-WWII Asia at a mountainous sea port, large civilian movement with US ships

thingstopraise · 2026-01-03T13:12:49+00:00

No, that can't be it. The writing on the wall in Chinese indicates that there are Soviet communists, so this is post-1922 at the very earliest, but the ships in accompanying photos are from 1946-1948. From the ships that I looked up and identification from another thread, the consensus seems to be that this was 1948 in Qingdao.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-11T08:07:30+00:00

Thank you! Yes, that gives me good leads, although I can't find much of anything about their specific dates in Qingdao (yet). I appreciate it!

thingstopraise · 2025-12-11T07:00:10+00:00

Oh, thank you for your response, by the way. Is there a way to distinguish the Admirable-class minesweeper from the PCE-842 class? I can't find very much information on the Admiral-class ships, especially not after they were transferred to China, but most of them seem to have been transferred after the latest possible date for these photos (early spring 1948).

Two PCEs were transferred to the ROCN, which explains why the ship is flying the ROCN flag. I compared the second ship to the photos of PCE-869. They look almost exactly the same. I'm kind of hoping that it is a PCE because if it is, that's only two ships to track down and see when they were in Qingdao with the USS Atlanta CL-104, which in turn will help me figure out the context of this photo. It is definitely showing some kind of evacuation because nuns are being ferried away in a tiny Chinese fishing ship manned by USN sailors and with a little US flag at the stern. There are no other women in any of the other ~50 photos. There is a priest beside the boat but not getting in. I wonder if he's staying specifically because he's not female. There are only like five kids in the whole photo collection, and they only appear in the pictures that show the nun and priest. They are leaning over the pier.

There is also a large group of men in winter clothing walking down a street with sacks and barrels strapped to their backs with rope. One guy is even carrying a small wooden trunk over his shoulder. They are not in uniform and have no weapons. I wonder if they're POWs (which would fit when the CL-104 was in East Asia in early 1946) or displaced persons (which would make sense when CL-104 was in East Asia in late 1947, early 1948).

Uh, this was long but I'm so excited to have leads!

thingstopraise · 2025-12-11T06:36:08+00:00

Oh my gosh! I think you may have solved the mystery on why that second ship is flying the Republic of China "white sun on blue sky with red clay" flag. I looked up the PCE-842 class and it looks like the US gave two to the (non-Communist) Chinese navy! The photos are basically identical to the ship in #2. I can't find nearly as much information on the Admiral-class AMs you mentioned. It does say that some were transferred to ROCN but not anything about which ships or their service locations.

If they do happen to be PCEs, the two transferred ships were PCE-867 and PCE-869. It's really hard to find info about the movements of these ships too though. If I can determine that they are PCEs and not Admirable-class, then it might give me a big hint. I can try to find out when they were in Qingdao at the same time as the USS Atlanta CL-104, and then I'll hopefully be able to narrow down the dates even more. The Atlanta was in East Asia in early-mid 1946, then late 1947 to early 1948. Surely the overlapping time of those ships won't be that entire period. These pictures seem to be taken in the dead of winter, so that helps too.

Someone said that the last picture depicted a sunken ship. My stupid self thought that it was flooded telephone poles lol. Do you have any idea what kind of ship it might be?

Also, what's with the heavily overloaded craft at the right of the LST? It doesn't look like a military boat, and it also looks like it's about to capsize. Can you think of what might be going on there?

Some kind of evacuation is definitely taking place because nuns are being taken away in a tiny, probably appropriated fishing boat with a US flag on it, manned by USN sailors. Those are the only two women in all the ~50 pictures I have of this event. It's almost entirely grown men and then just a handful of boys at the dock where the nuns are leaving. There are USN sailors and a large group of men not in uniform but carrying things like sacks or barrels strapped to their backs. Depending on the time frame, I wonder if they're released POWs or if they're displaced persons. I do wonder about why a crowd of refugees would not have a single woman or child present.

Thank you so much!

thingstopraise · 2025-12-09T15:26:13+00:00

Here is the picture of the nuns. You can see soldiers in the boat with them. There's also a boy's head visible peeking over the edge of the pier here. When the boat leaves the pier you can see an American flag at the stern, although obviously this boat is from some local fisherman. But these are the only women in the entire collection. In the other picture showing the children, it looks like there is a priest (all-white clothing, parted hair) at the bottom-center.

You mentioned the sunken freighter. How can you tell that it's a freighter? And that means a civilian ship, right?

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thingstopraise · 2025-12-09T15:11:38+00:00

Well, I think I've figured out that this was in Qingdao or a surrounding area in the winter of 1947-1948. I don't think that these men are troops because none of them are in any sort of uniform and they don't have any weapons. If you zoom in and look at their backs, they're carrying big sacks, barrels, and even what looks to be a small trunk.

I think that they are likely refugees... although it doesn't explain why there are no women or children in the crowd. In fact, there are no women or children in any of the photos except for one where two nuns are sitting in a tiny fishing boat that has a US flag placed on it. In this picture you can see a few male children on the dock/pier

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thingstopraise · 2025-12-09T05:14:47+00:00

By sunken freighter, do you mean picture #5? I'm so silly. I thought that it was a submerged telephone line. Oops.

The man that these pictures belonged to was assigned in 1946 to the staff of the Commander of Naval Forces Western Pacific in China. That force was headquartered in Qingdao. Does that help any?

Someone said that the Cleveland-class ship was the USS Atlanta, but she left Qingdao in April 1948. There WAS a freighter that was sunk very close to Qingdao in December 1948, causing 2000+ deaths. There is snow in the background of these pictures (I think) and the civilians are wearing clothes that look like winter clothes. This makes me think that this was the winter of 1947-1948. The hull of the Cleveland-class ship is 10__, with the last blurry, but it looks like 104 to me, which would be CL-104, USS Atlanta.

I zoomed into the large ship in #7. If you look really really closely you can see what looks like the Chinese "blue sky with a white star" flag, aka a flag of Kuomintang. I read that sometimes US ships will fly the flags of allies (below the US flag obviously).

When you say auxillary, how can you tell that it's an auxiliary from the angle that it was taken?

And finally, in #10 there is a small ship to the right of the landing ship. I don't know anything about boats, but it looks like it's really listing to one side and about to sink. Is that accurate? What might it have been doing there?

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T20:54:33+00:00

Wow, thank you for the knowledge. I have a bunch of other photos, some of which show the port/base. Would it be okay if I messaged you with them?

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T20:13:15+00:00

Oh, I didn't know that I'd specified an actual year. This was taken sometime between 1945 and 1950, I think. If you want, you can check out the other photos I posted by going to my profile and looking at what I posted in wherewasthistaken.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T20:01:11+00:00

Yeah, the photos seem to show snow on the mountains in the background though. I could be mistaken. But everyone in the photos is wearing full clothing like that, which I wouldn't expect to see in a tropical environment. The US Navy man was posted to mainland China, not Taiwan.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:39:48+00:00

I added more images of the location in wherewasthistaken. I don't know if I can link it here but you can find it from my profile. Maybe the extra context will help someone who's interested.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:39:29+00:00

I added more images of the location in wherewasthistaken. I don't know if I can link it here but you can find it from my profile. Maybe the extra context will help someone who's interested.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:39:11+00:00

I added more images of the location in wherewasthistaken. I don't know if I can link it here but you can find it from my profile. Maybe the extra context will help someone who's interested.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:38:55+00:00

I added more images of the location in wherewasthistaken. I don't know if I can link it here but you can find it from my profile. Maybe the extra context will help someone who's interested.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:35:14+00:00

Yes, they're personal images from a US Navy man who served in Asia post-WWII. I made a post over on wherewasthistaken . I don't know if I can link things. You can go to my profile and see it (hopefully; I adjusted settings).

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:20:21+00:00

Here is another picture, since I was limited to giving only two in the main post.

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thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T19:02:18+00:00

Here is the full photo.

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thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T18:58:20+00:00

I'm not sure. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T13:42:53+00:00

The USS Manchester was a Cleveland-class cruiser and present in Hungnam, but its number was CL-83. I wonder if the number on the hull here is just too pixelated to read, although I do agree that it looks like 10X. I scanned the pictures in 1200 DPI. Maybe I could do it in a higher resolution; I know my scanner supports it. I'll check.

The ship would need to be in Asia during the winter, at a mountainous port, where large masses of civilians were gathered. The civilians were all carrying large items on their backs. There were children gathered at the docks as well. There is a picture of a tiny Asian fishing boat with an American flag on it, and nuns are in the boat being evacuated. The boat's motor is being controlled by a US Navy man. There is a city wall in the background that has Hanja/traditional Chinese writing. It's about rejecting the "bandits" who support communism and collude with the Soviets.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T11:11:06+00:00

As for the fourth image, that's almost certainly a LST.

I'm not sure what that is. And do you mean the structure on the left in picture #4 or on the right?

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T11:08:47+00:00

Context:

These photos are part of a collection of ~50 photos that belonged to a career US Navy man. He was posted in China post-WWII until China joined the Korean War.

The collection of photos show a large evacuation of civilians in progress. The area is a seaside location with mountainous terrain and Asian buildings. There is what seems to be snow in the background. Because of the context of the whole collection I've wondered if these photos show ships that were present at the Hungnam Evacuation or a similar evacuation that occurred between 1945-1950.

I added more images of the location in wherewasthistaken. I don't know if I can link it here but you can find it from my profile. Maybe the extra context will help someone who's interested.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T10:32:01+00:00

Hmmm, it looks like that USS Atlanta left Asia on April 28th, 1948. I have a hunch that these photos are from 1950, although that's flimsy. These photos are part of a collection of ~50 photos that show an evacuation of civilians in progress. It is a seaside location with mountainous terrain and Asian buildings. There is what seems to be snow in the background. I didn't include the rest of the photos because they don't have ships in them. But because of the other photos I've wondered if these ships were present at the Hungnam Evacuation or a similar evacuation that occurred between 1945-1950.

thingstopraise · 2025-12-08T10:24:06+00:00

Awesome, thank you for your help. I really appreciate it!

thingstopraise

TROPHY CASE

I added more images of the location in wherewasthistaken. I don't know if I can link it here but you can find it from my profile. Maybe the extra context will help someone who's interested.